Jessie Voigts's Blog, page 234
March 1, 2016
Happy Birthday, National Wildlife Refuge System! 113 Years of Conserving Nature, Serving Communities
Hooray for America's nature. One big reason it's there to treasure: the National Wildlife Refuge System, the world's premier network of public lands devoted to wildlife conservation. The Refuge System turns 113 on March 14.
Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, refuges provide vital habitat for thousands of species and access to pastimes from fishing and hunting to nature watching, hiking, biking and boating. National wildlife refuges prote...
The Drowning Shark: An International Adventure
Rowling, Riordan, and Sweitzer & Swanepoel – authors who GET adventure writing for young adults. Know the first two, but not the last? That’s about to change, with the new Sierra Rouge adventure series by Stormy Sweitzer & Will Swanepoel. The first in the series is entitled The Drowning Shark, and, like all the books in the series, focuses on social change, compassion for the world around us, and adventure.
I’m a big fan of YA literature – th...
February 29, 2016
Crocodile Love: Unusual People Who Made Remarkable Trips
Imagine traveling for over a year on your honeymoon - exploring family history, traveling off the tourist trail, and making a difference by volunteering long term. How would that affect your new marriage? In Sutay and Josh Berman's case, everything.
RCPV and educator Josh and his wife, RCPV and nurse Sutay, ventured forth for 16 months on an extended honeymoon - traveling to places familiar (the village in The Gambia where Sutay lived during her tim...
February 28, 2016
Learning a language: 7 great ways to stay motivated
Are you or do you plan on learning a language? If you are, congratulations - you’ve made a great choice… but there is something you should know (if you haven’t figured it out yet). You will lose motivation at times -it will make you want to quit learning the language, but if you power through, the reward will be huge. Apart from knowing another language, studies show you'll be more adept at solving problems and other tasks that are mentally demandin...
Florida Culture for the Week of February 29, 2016 by Josh Garrick
Florida Culture for the Week of February 29, 2016 by Josh Garrick
NOW to Mar 13 – The 104th ANNUAL Central Florida FAIR
This year the Central Florida Fair runs to March 13, and that includes 3 weekends of ‘fun.’ This old-fashioned family fun-time offers everything from a Rooster Crowing Contest to rides, arts, food arts, livestock shows, demonstrations on quilting, calligraphy, and origami to Stage Concerts included in the admission price. Pop Evil...
February 26, 2016
How to Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum With Kids
Should we visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with kids?
Yes!
It’s an inspiring experience that’s tough to replicate without an expensive plane ticket to Europe.
The museum sits quietly between Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the Muddy River with easy access by public transportation.Enter through the modern new addition with a nice café and a state-of-the-art performance space (and gorgeous bathrooms!).From here, you access a passageway th...
February 25, 2016
Stand #withMalala to improve education for girls
Education – in all its forms – can change the world. And education is the single most effective way to reduce poverty. The Global Partnership for Educationnotes,
250 million children around the world fail to reach Grade 4 or reach it without learning to read or write.
Many of them are children in fragile and conflict-affected countries, children in rural areas, children with disabilities, and girls, who are the hardest to reach. The global learning c...
February 24, 2016
An insider’s guide to studying in London
Making the decision to pack up your laptop, a bag of clothes, and a heap of textbooks, and head to a completely different country in order to study can be incredibly exciting, yet daunting. The chances are you won’t know anybody at all, so how can you ensure you make the most of your time abroad? The best way, of course, is to choose your location, and educational establishment, wisely. Some cities in different countries will offer better opportunit...
February 23, 2016
College decisions causing anxiety? Maybe a gap year is the right path
For American high school seniors (and their parents), the first four months of the new year ring in an especially stressful period – the final throes of the college admissions process. Deadlines for applications arrive, decisions for early action are made, campus visits are made and weighing final selection all add to the angst. “Will I get in?” is replaced by “where will I go?” in the minds of these students.
For those who grapple with the pressur...
February 22, 2016
Alsace-Lorraine: Anything but Plain
Blood on the station floor. Mine! Yes, another fall on the escalator as I hurried to catch the high-speed German ICE (Inter City Express) train in Amsterdam’s Centraal Station. Heavy bag deciding to go south, me following. A bang on the head and a cut finger. Police there in an instant, tissues materialised to stem the dripping, wanting me to sit and calm down … and the train to leave in two minutes. And you know how German trains leave as the second...
